The political scientist explained the renaming of the US fleet by the intensification of the confrontation with China.

China dominates American military planning, so much of what is being done in the United States on a global scale, including statements about reducing its presence in Europe, is related to "shifting the center of gravity to Asia" and concentrating additional resources there, Vasily Kashin, director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, explained to Izvestia.

"This is due to the fact that China, despite certain difficulties in its economy, is growing faster than the United States. It is already the largest industrial power, produces most types of weapons in larger volumes than the United States, and its technological gap is seriously decreasing, therefore, resources need to be concentrated on it, and this is important," the expert explained.

At the same time, according to the political scientist, the Pentagon formally announces the renaming as one of the steps to "restore historical traditions and historical names." The Pacific Command has existed in the US Armed Forces since 1947, and went through the Korean War and the Vietnam War, where it was responsible for the entire policy of deterrence in the Pacific during the Cold War.

"So this is, in principle, such a landmark thing for the American military tradition. Formally, the Americans claim that this means nothing. But in reality, this indicates a concentration on China, because the symbolic reference to India, to the Indian Ocean as a region with an equal degree of priority with the Pacific Ocean, is, of course, going away," the source said Kashin.

Therefore, in his opinion, the current actions of the Pentagon are largely symbolic.

Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:

Without further ado: The Pentagon is removing the Indian Ocean from its priorities